Re: Whoo Hoo / Aguilar combo review

On Apr 14, 5:41 pm, "mini" <minia...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Aguilar combo review in comparison to the well known MarkBass 1x12 combo

After gigging 3 times in smaller venues with a MarkBass 1x12 I have chosen a
combo with what I consider both better sound and features.

The tradeoffs are larger size and weight but it's still pretty portable and
the sound is like being dead and gone to low enders heaven.
IMHO the MarkBass primarily is very portable but the sound is - well I'm
saying it - good compared to weight/Seize but other than that..... - Well it
is loud.

I have chosen Aguilar AG-Series AG500SC112C.
It's relatively easy to carry around and the tone is to die for - which
actually might happen when my wife sees the next bank statement.
The amp is actually a AG500sc head housed in a 2 unit slot/dock in the top
of the cab.
4 Allen screws and a speaker jack detached and the head is ready to fly
solo.

Compared to MarkBass there's more headroom, headroom and headroom and lows
down to F# with no problems and it excels in midrange too where I find
MarkBass tiresome when pushed a bit.
And Aguilar is the very first bass amp where I have not shut down the horn
after playing a few notes as it sounds very pleasant maybe because it's not
a piezzo thingy.

For the same reason this amp has extended my frequency range both in the low
and in the high end simultaneously.
My passive Fender Jazz delivers now deep bottom while it's still pretty slap
able.
My Läkland 55-02 delivers in all departments from Stingray and Jazz all the
way to Precision bass just like god intended it in the very beginning.

My fretless sounds awesome it's a Yamaha BB350F fitted with EMG P/J set and
the sound seems very organic and woody - pretty amazing considering this is
a nothing special pretty average fretless.
That amp must be amazing for upright me thinks.

There are no tubes - hard to believe when heard - however the Class A preamp
together with a very efficient switching fan-less power amp delivers 250
Watts of bottom, punch, overtones and detail's 500 Watts with extension cab.

Features - yes it does comes with a muting button and the FX loop can be set
to series or parallel plus it can be switched between pedal and rack units
(Impedance and sensitivity).
Besides the 4 EQ knobs it has high and low boost switches and a pad for
active pickups.

The DI can be set pre and post EQ and there's also ground lift.
For the record the MarkBass DI worked fine for me too.

The SC in AG500SC112C stands for Single channel (clean channel) which works
fine for me but the amp is also available in a duo channel version (with
added dirty channel).

The head weighs in at 18 lbs and the extension cab weighs 42 lbs which means
the combo weighs around 60 lbs.
This is way more than the MarkBass but in my view well worth lugging

Prices found:
MarkBass $ 849 - Aguilar $ 950

Mini

I have been using the Aguilar AG500SC for a while now, and can verify
your experience. It is really a wonderful amp. The Mark Bass amps
are intriguing and are getting a lot of buzz as of late. I suspect
they are like other flavors of the month that hit this group. They
get a good write up in Bass Player, someone posts a "this is the
greatest thing ever" and all of a sudden everyone has to have one.

Remember the Acme B1 cabs? Then it was Bergantino Cabs. Nothing
wrong with this, these are great pieces of gear, but in the end it is
all about personal tastes and what really delivers night after night.
I am interested in checking out a Mark Bass head, but I know that when
you see "great sound considering the small size and weight" in almost
every comment/review, you wonder how it would compare if it weren't so
light.

I bet that in a year or two, some other product will come along and...
you know the rest. In the end the amps that become classics stick
around for a while. Is the Mark Bass one? Time will tell.

I have a garage full of "flavors of the month" ( I can make you a deal
on some speaker cabs!) but I have been using my Aguilar amp and 1x12
cabs for almost 5 years now and I see no reason to switch. It works
for me. Of course, having a bass amp that is named after me would be
kind of cool....<G>

Anyway, thanks for your post. These kind of comparative posts are
really helpful and interesting! New gear ALWAYS sounds great. The
real deal is how it sounds six months or a year down the road.

Mark
.

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